There are books that do have such a great start but the original enthusiasm is often cut short as it ends up in a sea of stereotypes, for just jumping back to some serious unique toughts towards the end.
We Need New Names, 2013 Booker-prize finalist by Zimbabwe-born NoViolet Bulawayo was for me one of the most recent confusing literary experiences. Told with the voice of the growing up 10-year old Darling who moves from an unnamed country - but we are offered enough smart hints to figure out that it is Zimbabwe - to America. From a careless childhood stealing guavas and roaming the streets of a shanty town called Paradise in the company of age peers called Bastard or Godknows playing games like Find Ben Laden, Darling will be an undocumented immigrant, doing cleaning jobs to save money for college.
´There are two homes inside my head: home before Paradise, and home in Paradise, home one and home two´.
The first part of the story, featuring - with irony, not only when it comes to the names, but with the pure questioning attitude of children towards the nonsensical world of adults - Darling´s&friends roaming through Paradise is exciting, fresh, smart. A new story of coming of age. However, the second part, shorter, it´s focused on the American experiences which pale in comparison, are quite similar with other ´being consumed by the American dream´ kind of story´: financial struggles, poverty, strained social relations. The American episode intervenes exactly when I was fully immersed into the story, expecting only good developments.
I was partially disappointed, but towards the end, the story takes a more reflexive and meditative turn and thus was given the chance again to enjoy some good written episodes.
Although I fell literarily confused by We Need New Names, it was an exceptional reading experience and would want to continue further with other writings by NoViolet Bulawayo. It has a strength and humour that do have a huge literary potential.
Rating: 3 stars
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